NOTE: I’m doing an ongoing series of stories on elder scams, a “tsunami” of crimes hitting the most vulnerable Americans, according to the FBI’s Debbie Deem. Recently, I wrote about the tragic story of a California teacher found murdered in Jamaica. I also wrote about Deem for CNBC.com recently (Click [Keep reading]
This column is dedicated to new Nobel Prize-winning economist Richard Thaler and his “deviant thoughts”. Here’s mine for today: Not everything that is good for consumers is good. Facebook and the election? Uber kicked out of London? Google getting an entire staff at a think tank fired? Continuously-shrinking airplane seats? [Keep reading]
Many people believe that Americans waste a bunch of money eating out — that avocado toast and lattes are budget wreckers, for example — and that’s sort of true. In 2014, an important line was crossed — for the first time since the government tracked this sort of thing, families [Keep reading]
I had the honor of appearing on This Week in Tech yesterday. The blow of not sharing the studio with tech legend and usual host Leo Laporte was eased by ABC’s Becky Worley, who was fantastic at drawing out the wisdom of guests Rob Reid and Robert Scoble . (Yes, this was the [Keep reading]
Heidi Ann Muth was found face down in a pool of blood last week, left for dead on a dirt road in Jamaica after she was brutally stabbed in the head and back several times. The 68-year-old Californian had spent more than year 30 years teaching young kids how to love [Keep reading]
US consumers broke through quite a barrier earlier this year, when total credit card debt topped $1 trillion for the first time since the Great Recession. Then in June, total credit card debt reached $1.021 trillion, besting the previous record set back in April 2008, just as the Great Recession [Keep reading]
In this story The Department of Education will no longer play nice with the consumer-friendly CFPB on student loan complaints It could get harder to complain about problems repaying student loans The move follows a pattern of industry-friendly steps, including putting a former exec at a disgraced for-profit school as [Keep reading]
In this story New apps aim to cut down on accidental overdrafts and cash flow issues. Will the apps end up like Payday loans, or a better deal? Steps you can take without needing an app Remember when banks feared that new consumer protections would make it harder to charge [Keep reading]
You arrive at a party at an unfamiliar home. As you ring the bell, you rehearse the next few moments — explaining who you know, why you’re there, where you’ll place the bottle of wine you’re holding. Then the door opens, the hellos begin, and suddenly, there’s a powerful [Keep reading]
When you were in math class as a child, teachers usually wanted more than the correct answer to a problem. They also wanted you to demonstrate, on paper, how you got the answer. They wanted you to “show your work.” Turns out, adults want that too. In fact, something kind of magical [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan